Judge allows federal land transfer to state of Alaska that will support Ambler Road and Alaska LNG

Alex DeMarban, Anchorage Daily News on Jul 29, 2026

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ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A federal judge last week rejected a bid by conservation groups to stop the Trump administration from conveying land to Alaska to support development of the 200-mile Ambler Road that could open up access for mining in a remote Arctic region.

Alaska U.S. District Judge Aaron Peterson on Friday dismissed portions of the lawsuit, denying the request for a preliminary injunction and removing a legal cloud over the 1.4-million-acre land transfer, tentatively approved by the Interior Department in May.

The state has said the land transfer could also support the proposed Alaska LNG megaproject that seeks to deliver North Slope gas to Asian countries and Alaskans. Conservation groups argue that state control of the land removes federal protections for subsistence hunting and reduce environmental safeguards as mining takes place and projects are developed.

The land lies along the Dalton Highway near Coldfoot north of the Yukon River, where part of the the 800-mile trans-Alaska pipeline passes. It’s part of the Dalton Utility Corridor and includes the route that would host the Alaska LNG pipeline, if it is built.

“Alaska has fought hard to secure access to the lands that were promised to us at Statehood,” Gov. Mike Dunleavy said in a statement Friday. “I am glad to see this land finally returning to Alaska’s control, and I am thankful for the tireless efforts of Alaskans who made it possible.”

Alaska had selected the lands under the Statehood Act, but they were withdrawn by the federal government for more than 50 years. Interior removed the withdrawals for the land earlier this year, and the agency began taking steps to convey the lands to the state.

Trustees for Alaska filed the case in March on behalf of the Northern Alaska Environmental Center and nine other groups. The groups argued that the transfer violates laws such as the National Environmental Policy Act.

They said that removing federal oversight would open the land to mining claims, road-building and industrial activities, threatening clean water, wildlife habitat and subsistence resources.

The state’s controversial Ambler Road proposal would extend a gravel corridor west through wilderness from the Dalton corridor. It’s designed to open a mining district containing copper, zinc, lead and other minerals considered critical by the federal government for their economic and defense value.

The Department of the Interior in February revoked 1970s-era public land orders that kept 2.1 million acres of land along the Dalton corridor in federal hands, including the 1.4 million acres.

This decision from the federal government came without public comments or hearings in local communities, and the groups filed their lawsuit in March to stop the potential conveyances, they said in a statement Friday.

After the lawsuit was filed, Interior issued “tentative approvals” to transfer the 1.4 million acres.

“Americans deserve a transparent process when decisions of this magnitude are made — not backroom giveaways that put short-term industrial interests ahead of wildlife, Indigenous communities, and future generations," said Andy Moderow, with the Alaska Wilderness League.

“This decision does not erase the harm it poses to communities closest to these lands that will be forced to live with the consequences of a rushed federal action that prioritizes state takeover and extractive development over public process, Tribal sovereignty, and long-term stewardship,” said Krystal Lapp, with the Northern Alaska Environmental Center.

In his ruling, Peterson said that, “once lands are tentatively approved, Alaska holds ‘all right, title, and interest’ to them,” in reference to the 1.4 million acres.

The remaining 700,000 acres has not been tentatively approved, and the Trump administration does not plan to take action on that land without an an additional request from the state, Peterson wrote.

“Sovereign immunity (held by the state) bars claims that would disturb Alaska’s vested interest in lands already tentatively approved for transfer, but it does not require dismissal as to lands that have not yet reached that stage of the transfer process,” Peterson wrote.

Peterson, a former natural resources attorney with the Alaska Department of Law, was nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate in February in a bipartisan 58-39 vote.

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